Contract Oil Company; Marquette, Michigan

Marquette, Michigan | 1986-Mar-31

Initial Notification: On about March 29, 1986, a transfer line broke within the diked area of the Contract Oil Company in Marquette, Michigan, releasing approximately 204,000 gallons of a 50% sodium hydroxide solution into the containment area. The floor of the diked containment area was breached by several large diameter monitoring wells previously installed to remove petroleum products from the groundwater. The sodium hydroxide, owned by the Dow Chemical Company under a service agreement with Contract Oil for receiving, storing, and delivering the product, ran from the broken pipe into one of the monitoring wells, and flowed via another pipe directly into the Marquette Harbor basin 30 feet away. In less than 48 hours, virtually all of the sodium hydroxide had flowed into the harbor basin and spread out over the bottom under the ice, leaving less than 15,000 gallons within the diked area. Upon notification of the release, the Dow Chemical Emergency Response Team undertook a cleanup of contaminated soils in the diked area. USCG district 9.